With a controlling manager I think you are stuck? There is "legacy mode" under Global Settings. That might allow you to overrule your manager?
As for me? League Settings>Stats & AI>use openers> never (is the appropriate setting)
I'm guessing you want openers so maybe tweaking that setting to something lower than you have now might help? IE if it lessens the use of openers perhaps your guy will be "left out"?
After that I've got nothing.